Church Treasurer Monthly Close Checklist: Close the Month Without Reconstructing December

What a church treasurer monthly close actually is

Sunday is a count. The week is a gift log. The month is when those weeks have to survive a bank statement and a committee question together. You are not producing audited financials. You are answering four questions:

1. Did every offering bag and processor batch land in the bank?
2. Did every check, ACH, and reimbursement leave from the fund that was supposed to pay it?
3. Is building / missions / benevolence still a running balance, or did it get spent as “general”?
4. Can a finance committee see income, expenses, and budget vs. actual without opening your inbox?

There is no IRS due date for a church month-end close. IRS Publication 1771 and IRC section 170(f)(8) govern donor substantiation at year-end, not this packet. Close while the Sundays are still in memory. The first week of the next month is a practical window, not a statute.

Who this checklist is for

Volunteer treasurers who still count a physical bag and also take online gifts. Pastors who need a clean month for the finance committee. Not for a diocese already on nonprofit ERP, payroll filings, or a year you cannot reconstruct — call a CPA who works with churches.

For physician readers: the church log and your own charitable deduction are different files. A month-end spreadsheet row is not a contemporaneous written acknowledgment. Educational, not tax advice.

Church treasurer monthly close checklist (step by step)

Do these in order. Skip a step and you will invent the number later.

1. Confirm every Sunday has a count and a deposit. Two-person count — cash, checks, coin — both names, MATCH or VARIANCE, deposit-slip reference. A count sheet is not a giving log. Missing Sunday: reconstruct that week before you close.
2. Post leftover gifts to the giving log. Date, method, donor or envelope number, amount, fund, deposit reference. Processor batches are one bank line and several households — post the households. Weekly method: how to track church tithes and donations.
3. Post every expense with payee, reference, ministry, and fund. Checks, ACH, debit, reimbursements. Do not pay from the Sunday bag. Request, two signatures if that is policy, receipt, then a row. Approved-but-unpaid items go on the list in step 8.
4. Match bank deposits to the log — you do this. If they do not align, find the missing envelope, late processor batch, or split that never got a row. A workbook can total the log. It cannot import a bank CSV unless that feature is in the file. The shop’s tithe workbook below has no Reconciliation tab.
5. Match bank withdrawals to the expense log. Flag bank fees, unexplained debit-card charges, and checks that cleared without a request. Until you find the row, the bank is the cash that moved. Do not type the bank total into the sheet to “balance” the month.
6. Roll designated-fund balances. Building, missions, benevolence, or your list: gifts in minus withdrawals out. If general is short and a restricted fund is fat, that is a board conversation, not a silent transfer.
7. Run the month’s budget vs. actual. Income and expenses by the cut the committee already approved. Variance is a fact. A 12-month P&L from the logs is enough for a small church.
8. List unpaid invoices and outstanding reimbursements. Payee, amount, fund, status (approved / waiting on receipt / waiting on second signature).
9. Lock or archive the month. Date a copy YYYY-MM or lock the rows. If October can still edit August, you do not have an August.
10. Backup, then one page for the committee. Month file, bank PDF, count sheets, processor export — church shared drive and a second copy. Backup is the audit trail. Packet is the meeting.

Designated funds at month-end

Mixing designated gifts into general operating cash is the error that is hardest to unwind. “Missions” on the memo line is not permission to cover the electric bill.

• Unrestricted / general / tithe — operating money the board already budgeted.
• Restricted / designated — a named purpose (building, missions, benevolence, a trip). Gifts in minus withdrawals out is the only number that answers “how much is left for that purpose?”
• Pledged vs. received — a campaign pledge is not a deposit. Do not book pledged as income at month-end.

Use a dropdown for the fund name so “Missions” and “Mission” do not become two funds. If policy allows a board vote to release a restriction, document the vote. Do not “borrow” from benevolence and promise to put it back. Benevolence stays a designated fund — not the Sunday bag. Siblings: church finance templates.

What to put in the finance-committee packet

One page if you can; two if the designated-fund table needs room. The committee does not need your working file. They need:

1. Month income — gifts split general vs. designated, plus non-gift deposits (facility use, interest).
2. Month expenses — by the budget lines the board already uses.
3. Net — income minus expenses. Say whether designated in/out is inside that net or shown separately so nobody double-counts.
4. Budget vs. actual — this month, and year-to-date if the file already totals it.
5. Designated-fund balances — starting, in, out, ending, for each named fund.
6. Open items — unpaid invoices, outstanding reimbursements, unexplained MATCH/VARIANCE from a count.
7. Bank match result — matched, or named variance with an owner. Not “we’ll look at it.”

Bring the bank PDF and the count sheets. Do not paste account numbers into email. Year-end statements are not this packet. The $250 contemporaneous-written-acknowledgment rule lives on the year-end statements guide (IRS Publication 1771). January 31 is common practice, not a church-side IRS due date.

Mistakes that turn January into a reconstruction

• Closing the bank and not the log. A balanced checking account with undesignated “deposit” rows is not a close.
• Typing the bank total into the sheet. That hides the missing envelope. Record the variance.
• One “online” line for the month. Processor batches are several gifts. December statements need households.
• Spending designated as general. A hallway “we’ll put it back” is not a control.
• Paying from the bag. Reimbursements go through a request and the expense log. The bag goes to the bank.
• Leaving the month unlocked, or the only copy on a personal laptop. If October can edit August, you do not have an August.

A workbook that holds the month

If you want the columns, fund rollups, monthly P&L, and per-donor totals in one Excel / Google Sheets file, the shop’s live Church Tithe Tracker Spreadsheet is listing 4533118846. Instant download. State active. Price $6.99 USD (Etsy Open API, 2026-09-09). Eleven tabs, including Giving & Tithes Log, Designated Funds, Expense Log, Monthly P&L, Dashboard, Annual Budget, and Contribution Statements. You still type each gift and expense. The Monthly P&L is a 12-month rollup from those logs. The Contribution Statements tab is an internal helper, not an IRS-compliant donor letter — confirm wording with a CPA.

Bookkeeping template, not tax software, not a bank-CSV import, not a two-person count sheet. Love Guarantee (14 days): free fix, free small customization, or refund. Custom requests named on the listing: extra funds, multi-campus, ministry names, year-end statement layout. Siblings: church finance templates.

FAQ: Church treasurer monthly close